Present Tense is an aspiring brewery in Chicago looking to bring English style cask ales to those that call Chicago home.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Burton

Imagine a place developed from the ground up for the sole
purpose of brewing beer. Its entire
infrastructure developed for making beer.
Its entire population existing to meet the needs of the industry. Its streets, a complex rail system, the life
line of each brewery, delivering raw ingredients, transporting casks, moving
spent grain. Day in and day out, around
the clock, ingredients come in, beer flows out – faster, more efficient.

Prior to my trip to Burton, I knew very little about its
history. I had a general understanding
of its historical significance and its contribution to brewing, but little else. So, I decided to make the trip from Harrogate
to Burton with little expectations for the town, other than to pay homage to a
place that is recognized by most every homebrewer and to visit the National
Brewery Centre.

After a 2.5 hour trip with a transfer at Leeds, I walked off
the train to a sight of a rather aging city under a very grey and gloomy sky;
not very picturesque by any stretch of the imagination, rather, very
unspectacular looking. Dominating the
center of the city was the Molson Coors brewery. Poor choices of exterior materials and a
rather obvious sign of a lack of up keep, the brewery was an ugly
site…enormous, yes, but not much consideration for aesthetics or taste. Walking past the modern, but faded and aging
brewery, I began to see signs of the Burton of the past – large brick
buildings, many sitting vacant, others repurposed for restaurants or a variety
of other needs. The dramatic contrast of
new and old caused me to shake my head…such grand brick buildings, standing for
centuries, built with pride and integrity by the hands of hard working men next
to thrown together metal structures that beg for respect, but with no substance
behind their construction only get a passing glance from a passerby’s brief
recognition of the multinational corporation’s sign bolted onto the black
fence.

Molson Coors Brewery in Burton-on-Trent

The contrast of new and old in Burton.

This continued to be the trend through the town, one
impressive brick building, surely a remnant of a former brewery, standing next
to a new building of significantly inferior quality and substance. Where there was not a new building, there was
a parking lot. Nothing in particular
stood out about Burton, a city standing in the shadows of its past - a theme
replayed across innumerable cities all over the world. Just like any other former industrial town –
trying to keep up with the present by demolishing one substantial, historical
building after another to make way for a more convenient and suitable
replacement. I eventually made my way to
my destination – the National Brewery Centre.

One of the buildings of the National Brewery Center,in an original building from the Worthington Brewery.

Housed in a large red brick building situated on the back
corner of the Molson Coors parking lot, the National Brewery Centre recounted
the once flourishing history of the Bass Brewery and its place in the brewing
heritage of Burton-on-Trent. The museum
was enormous spanning across three buildings showing off antique brewing
equipment, beer memorabilia, shire horses, dray carts, vintage delivery trucks,
and on and on. But what stood out to me
the most was a large scale model of the city of Burton in the year 1880. I was in heaven indulging in the historical
artifacts of brewing in Burton, but I was astonished to learn of the massive
influence brewing had on the city – culminating in an unbelievable scale model
of how the city once stood.

Burton in 1880.

Burton in 1880.

Burton in 1880.

Burton in 1880.

So, going back to that brewing paradise mentioned above,
that place once existed…it was called Burton-on-Trent. Sitting directly above an abundant source of
some of the most perfect brewing water in the world and situated alongside the
River Trent, an important commercial route cutting across England, Burton
established itself as the brewing capital of the world during the 19th
century. Dozens of wells scattered
across the town provided the breweries access to the water sitting deep
underground. Complex rail systems
tangled throughout the town linking each brewery to the main rail line. At its peak, over 30 massive breweries called
this place home – producing over a quarter of England’s beer production and
exporting beer all over the world. Each
brewery employed armies of people to address the needs of every aspect of the
brewery – brewers, coopers, construction workers, engineers, clerical workers,
chemists, maltsters, uniform seamstresses, shoe makers, shire horses, and on
and on…each brewery was basically like a little city within a city taking up
dozens of buildings expanding across numerous city blocks. The work was intense, but people flocked to
the city to work in the harsh conditions and keep the industry booming.

Needless to say, my perspective of the unremarkable town
that I had just walked through had dramatically changed in light of the more
informed understanding I had gained of the place and its history. I made my way back through the city, viewing things
through a completely different lens – trying to imagine how the city once was.

The scale model I had seen in the museum was utterly
impressive, the city that I was walking through was not. There were no signs of the rail system that
once filled the streets. There was no
sign of the smoke stacks rising high above the city. And there was no hint of the sweet smell of
brewing in the air. Little remained of
the once thriving industry. Sure, lots
of original brick buildings still stood, but they were all disconnected,
repurposed, and mainly vacant. Sure, brewing
was still a significant part of the city, but the empire that once stood in
Burton had been demolished and replaced with the latest, modern systems able to
produce as much beer in only 1% of the space.
Sure, there still remained some major breweries in the city, but the
craft of brewing had been replaced with the automation of the business of
brewing. The city has continued to limp
along, but years of bad decisions, numerous brewery mergers, and greedy buy
outs has crippled the city and left it only with relics of a once impressive
past.

As I continued walking through the city, I came across a pub
called the Bridge Inn. On the front of
the building, it said Burton Bridge Brewery in big block letters, and on a sign
in front of the entrance it said “Now available: Burton Ale”. I quickly decided that it was time for a pint
or two. That was a wise decision. This pub was fantastic, the beer was incredible;
I had discovered a reinvigoration of life into Burton by way of beer. The namesake beer of the city had been
revived by a small brewery keen on continuing the long tradition of making
incredible beer in Burton-on-Trent. And
Burton’s legacy continues…the once booming city full of massive breweries is
birthing a new generation of small scale breweries intent on providing the UK
with amazing beer.